Tag Archives | women

What’s the story? Is travel in India safe?

By on March 19, 2013 in India, News/Events, Travel Tips
Taj Mahal Agra India

The Taj Mahal at sunset from the other side of the river.

Why I think you should BOTH practise safe travel AND keep your perspective

A series of much-publicized rapes in India has many people wondering if India is safe for travellers. A female British tourist just jumped out of a hotel window in Agra to escape an assertive employee knocking on her door. Was she justified; was the threat real? Or is the increasing fear volume in India making people overly anxious? It is my opinion that media bias and sensationalizing is making India sound unsafer than it actually is; but having said that, I also strongly encourage using common sense and practising “safe travel.” Media sensationalizing is having another negative effect, too: it is distracting from the real story, which is the worldwide problem of violence against women and the worldwide rape crisis. Please read on to find out real rape statistics around the world and why you need to practice safe travel wherever you go. Continue Reading →

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A woman’s voice

By on March 7, 2013 in News/Events
Mariellen Ward, travel blogger, blogging in Bhutan and India

Me, on the job as a travel blogger in South Asia (staying at the gorgeous Uma Paro in Paro, Bhutan)

For International Women’s Day: On being a female travel blogger

For International Women’s Day on March 8, which is also my birthday, I have decided to publish a very long post about how it has taken my entire life, an enormous amount of work and all of my savings (and then some) to find my voice and become a writer. And how this journey has been the most important of my life. And why travel blogging has played such a crucial role.

It is a woman’s voice, sire, which dares to utter what many yearn for in silence. – Elizabeth Barrett-Browning

Everyone writes and blogs for different reasons, and they each have different goals. I have always felt a little out of the general stream of travel bloggers, whose concerns seem important and valid, but often secondary to me. For me, travelling in India the first time, for six months back in 2005/6, was about recovering from grief and depression, and trying to restart my life.

International Women's DayIt was on that trip that I started travel blogging. Travel blogging for me is about helping me achieve my most ardent, most pressing dream: to become the writer I have wanted to be since childhood. And to do it in spite of a lack of confidence and support.

So please read on, when you have the time. It’s only one woman’s story, one woman’s voice. I do not mean to write for all women, or to make a political statement. I am not identifying as a “victim” — I think I’m very lucky to have been born in Canada, and I realize that every human on earth has struggles, a journey of life lessons, each unique. Joseph Campbell said, and I agree, “the privilege of a lifetime is being you.”

But if you relate to my journey, and learn something from my story, then it is worth sharing. Women are still struggling, all over the globe, to attain education, equal rights, freedom from abuse. But some of us luckier ones, born in Canada, have still had to struggle to find the confidence to speak up and be heard. Continue Reading →

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Finally, a perfect small hotel in Delhi

By on February 27, 2013 in India, Travel Tips
Red Maple Bed & Breakfast hotel in South Delhi India

A typical room at Red Maple.

An ideal stay for solo female travellers in South Delhi, India

It was desperation that drove me to Red Maple Bed & Breakfast in Delhi … but delight that kept me there! In January, I was staying with friends in Gurgaon, a huge, new suburban community south of Delhi, and the temperature kept dropping and dropping. One day, it hit a 50-year record low: high of 9 C. and low of 2 C. Now, you might be thinking, “She’s Canadian, what’s that to her?” And you’d be right: in my home city of Toronto, temperatures can drop to minus 25 C. in winter. But we have insulated houses, indoor heating, hot showers, continuous power, and so many other things that make living in a cold climate bearable, and even cosy. No such luck in Delhi, where the houses are built to keep the heat out, and floors are usually made of marble.

In short, it was bone-chilling at my friend’s place, and also far from my favoured stopping grounds, South Delhi. Yes, I am a South Delhi girl. I like frequent stops at Barista or Cafe Coffee Day. I shop at Fabindia in Khan Market and go for ice cream treats at The Big Chill. I meet my friends in Hauz Khas and get my mani-pedis done in Green Park. And my idea of a perfect market is GK1 N-Block. So, I reached out to Harminder Saini at the Red Maple Bed & Breakfast to find out if he had availability, and when he said yes, piled all my suitcases in a taxi for the long ride from Gurgaon. Continue Reading →

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Ode to the lady traveller: Why we need the #WeGoSolo movement

By on February 7, 2013 in News/Events, Travel Tips
Freya Stark solo female / woman traveller

Freya Stark in Jebel Druze.

Women and travelling solo

Women have been travelling and exploring the world alone for generations, maybe longer. Alexandra David-Néel walked into Lhasa, Tibet disguised as a man in 1924, when it was closed to foreigners, and lived in a cave in Sikkim. Freya Stark, like me, was obsessed with the 1,001 Tales of the Arabian Nights when she was a child. She became an explorer and in the 1930s trekked into areas of Iran and Arabia that no foreigners had seen. Dervla Murphy rode her bike, Roz, from Ireland to India in 1963. And these are just the ones we know about, the celebrated ones.

In this day and age there are thousands, perhaps millions, of women travelling the globe solo, and many of them are travel bloggers like myself. We are the new “lady travellers.” But the recent tragic death of a young American woman in Turkey, and the vicious and much-publicized gang rape in Delhi, has some people wondering if women should be travelling alone. To this, we say WeGoSolo! Read on to find out more about this new movement, and how it is supporting and encouraging women to travel safely. And why travel, and travelling solo, is not the problem.

Be sure to follow the #WeGoSolo hashtag on Twitter and join the conversation every Wednesday at 11 a.m. EST. And join the WeGoSolo Facebook page.  And check out the Storify page for the #WeGoSolo
Travel Safety discussion.

Continue Reading →

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Travel safely, reliably and well with India tours

By on February 2, 2013 in BDG TOURS, India, News/Events, Travel Tips
Ghats, sacred city, Varanasi, India

The ghats of Varanasi, India’s oldest and most sacred city

Help for first time visitors: New India tours

Travel in India is not easy, especially if you’re a first time visitor to India. I am the first to admit it. I have said many times: you need someone to hold your hand. And India tours are the ideal solution. Here’s why. When I was in Delhi in January 2013, I got a call from a young Australian woman named Fiona. She was in a travel office in central Delhi and she was worried.

Fiona had been looking for the India Tourism office on Janpath, but was steered towards the office she called me from, on a back lane, away from the main street. The men in the travel office were trying to sell her and her friend expensive jeep tours of Rajasthan and she felt something was amiss. It certainly was. The girls were in the wrong office, and they were about to get scammed. And, unfortunately, this is am all-too-common occurrence.

This is why I am partnering with a reputable travel & tour company based in both Delhi and Ontario, Canada to offer custom tours, orientation packages, personalized one-on-one advice and other travel services such as airport pickup and car hire. I want to help you travel safely, reliably and well in India.

Continue Reading →

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Is India safe for women travellers?

By on January 14, 2013 in India, News/Events
photograph of Mariellen at the aarti in Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela, APril 2010

Me at the aarti in Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela, April 2010

The Delhi Gang Rape has provoked widespread outrage, protest — and fear

Following the vicious rape of a young woman in Delhi in December 2012 (called the Delhi Gang Rape by the media), a British newspaper published an article by a woman about her experiences as a foreign woman travelling in India. According to the article, she was constantly stalked and groped and made to feel afraid during her travels in India.

That was her experience, and I certainly honour it. But it’s not mine. I have had a relatively smooth time travelling in India. I have travelled in India for about 17 months in total, over the past seven years, and visited 15 states — most of it solo. I have taken trains, buses, autorickshaws, taxis, elephants and motorcycles (as a passenger). I have been north and south, east and west. I have meditated by the Ganga, swam in the ocean, rode a camel in the desert and much more. In all that time, I have rarely felt unsafe. Continue Reading →

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My top tips for women travelling in India

By on January 14, 2013 in India, News/Events, Travel Tips
Mariellen Ward at Taj Mahal in India

Me at Taj Mahal, India 2006

Safe travel strategies for women in India

In December 2012, a young woman was viciously raped on a private bus in Delhi, India and she died of her wounds 13 days later. The Delhi Gang Rape provoked unprecedented outrage in India, condemnation around the globe and opened up discussion and debate about the safety of women in India.

I have travelled across India for about 17 months in total, over the past seven years — most of it solo. In all that time, I have rarely felt unsafe. Although I do not hesitate to pursue my travel dreams in India, I am always careful about my planning — to make sure I don’t arrive on a train platform alone in the middle of the night for example. And I am cautious about my dress and deportment. Here are my top safety recommendations and travel tips for women who travel in India. Continue Reading →

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: You Go Girl!

By on June 1, 2012 in India, News/Events
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, India Bollywood Star, Cannes FIlm Festival

Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Queen of Bollywood gives the kiss-off to critics

If you don’t know who Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is, she’s one of the biggest Bollywood stars in India; a former Miss World; and the wife of Abhishek Bachchan, son of legendary Indian film star Amitabh Bachchan. She has often been called the most beautiful woman in the world. Last November, at the age of 38, Ash (as she is called by her friends and the tabloids) gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Aaradhya.

And now she’s the centre of controversy because she refuses to bow to the celebrity pressure of returning to her pre-baby weight. The reason I am writing this blog post is simply to say to Aishwarya: You Go Girl! Continue Reading →

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GO Books: Going Full Tilt with Dervla Murphy

By on November 2, 2011 in GO Books, Ireland
Dervla Murphy author of Full Tilt on her bicycle

Dervla Murphy and her trusty steed, Roz

Launching GO Books

Full Tilt: From Ireland to India

This book review of Full Tilt: From Ireland to India by Dervla Murphy marks the first in a new series on Breathedreamgo called GO Books. I will be reviewing and recommending books about travel, personal transformation, culture, India, yoga and/or writing, and providing a link for purchase from Amazon. I will be reviewing classics, like Full Tilt, as well as newly published books. I will NOT recommend any book unless I absolutely believe it is a first-rate read. If you buy it and don’t like it, I will personally invite you over for a home-cooked dinner and you can tell me why (some conditions apply). Continue Reading →

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Girls need you!

By on October 4, 2011 in News/Events, Responsible Travel

Join The Girl Effect Challenge

Girls in India need you

And girls all over the world, too. I’m participating in The Girl Effect blogger challenge — which is about raising awareness of the challenges girls face around the world. In India, my area of specialty, girls are often not educated; there are far more illiterate girls than boys; and girls are often forced into marriage. Yet, girls (and women) hold the key to an improved life for their families and communities. It has been proven that educated girls bring a lot more wealth and a higher standard of living and health into their communities.

All over India I have met beautiful girls and powerful women. It’s so obvious to me they are the future. But we need to consciously change the world to make sure they get the opportunities they deserve.

Donate and win prizes!

Currently, I am fundraising for The Intrepid Foundation for Deepalaya, a project in Delhi that helps street kids. Deepalaya is building a hostel for girls. If I win the fundraising drive, I will buy a school kit for every person who donates and deliver them personally to the girls. Read this blog, Help the street kids of India, and please donate! You can donate directly here on the Intrepid for Deepalaya page.

For every $10 you donate you will entered in a draw to win great prizes like a stay at the grand Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, a framed print by photographer Andrew Adams of Katha Images., tickets to see Bharati at the SONY Centre in Toronto and an autographed copy of the Weight of Silence: The Invisible Children of India by Shelley Seale.

Join The Girl Effect by publishing a post the week of October 4-11: here’s the instructions and more information. Then, link to this page. And watch the video, below to find out from a young woman in India what it means to support education for girls. Continue Reading →

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